


Drawing References

by Kjfan2006



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fantrolls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27398245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kjfan2006/pseuds/Kjfan2006
Summary: In which Artema meets a stuttering mess of a new friend behind her hive.
Relationships: Artema Caipra/Vireah Actias (moirallegiance)





	Drawing References

Your name is ARTEMA CAIPRA, and you feel like an absolute fucking idiot.

You're currently squinting at the wide-ass open ocean at the back of your hive from the miserable little dock that you ordered to be built there ages ago for reasons you do not remember. A few moments ago, you thought of making your next project a nice big painting of some pretty little fishes  _ ( **splashbeasts? I'll find the word eventually)** _ before realising Gorgle ain't doing shit in finding some actually helpful references. Your next idea was to toodle off to your ocean backyard to get some references yourself. 

Then you realized just how stupid the idea was, because 1. You're not a seadwealler and 2. Even if you can swim, how the hell are you gonna do reference sketches without soaking all of your papers?

Before stomping back up to your hive, you decided to just stand awkwardly at the dock for a moment and squint angrily at the ocean horizon. That's what you've been doing for the past few minutes, staring at the huge ocean and thinking of alternative websites you can use to find references when you get back to your hive. 

The view of the ocean is just about as nice as it always had been even from the windows up your hive. You would've sat on the edge of the dock and let your feet dangle above the water, if not because the tide is out now and you don't really feel like getting your feet soaking wet.

But then just before you turn around and head back to your hive, you see a little dot peeking out from the horizon. You squint a little harder, wondering if your eyesight went haywire from staring at the water for so long.

Before you can shrug it off, the out-of-place speck disappears for a short little moment, before popping back up again, albeit more closer to the dock you're standing at now.

You let your eyes focus for a little while before pulling a frown.  _ Ugh, that stupid seadwealler again _ , you think. Those fin-faced pretty princesses are the most annoying trolls you've seen in your life. Sure, they don't go that far up shore that you have to throw hands with them most of the time, but a few dozen broken paintbrushes and kicked over paint cans does enough to give you a bad impression on them. This one in particular has been circling around your house for the past week, you've seen them from your window a few times already. They never come close enough for you to see some useful features, except for their horns that look like a plus-sign.

You hope they aren't looking for a fight, cause the I-use-blood-to-paint joke is getting really old. That and your moirail will be visiting in a short while and you don't really feel like scaring him with another corpse you have to deal with.

_ Oh great, are they looking at me? _ If the squinting you were doing at the ocean earlier wasn't angry enough, it probably is now. You flip the stupid fish off and turn to head back to the comforts of your hive when you hear some noise out of the ordinary quiet gushing of the waves. 

"+Wait! Sorry for staring +Weirdly like that! Come back!" You hear them yell as they swim closer to the dock.

_ Well, that's new. _ You thought. The usual greetings with seadweallers often don't start with "sorry"s and more often with any remixed version of "hey, assblood!"

You turn back around to see the seadwealler, a boy, you note, trying to pull himself up to the dock. He had a camera hanging from his neck (which he was taking care to not hit it on anything) and hair dripping over his face. It doesn't take him a few more tries before realising the tide wasn't really high enough for him to do that easily or without making an embarrassment of himself, so he settles with perching his arms on the floor of the dock instead.

"Are you 9onna exPlain why you've been lookin9 stuPidly at my hive for the Past week?" You ask him, which you believe is a pretty acceptable question to ask. 

His face goes violet as he pulls a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I was, uh, +Wanted to, uh…" he stutters, face going even more violet. "Don't get mad at me, but I uh, +Wanted to ask permission to take photos of your hive,"

He  _ what _ ?

"It's not like that!" He must've read your expression, cause he lifts his hands up panicking, before falling backwards into the ocean when his arms weren't there to support the rest of his body resting on the dock. You bite back a laugh as he splutters a bit while pulling himself back up. And you thought Vireah sucked at talking, this kid can't get a sentence out of his mouth without making a fool out of himself.

"Then it's like what?" You squat down so that you can spare your neck from the pain of constantly staring down at him. He looks around nervously, like he's debating whether he should continue this show of embarrassment or just call it a day and swim off.

"It's, um, not that creepy, it's just that your hive, uh, looks really pretty from over there." He gestures to the far away spot he was at a few minutes earlier. "At first I +Wanted to just take a picture and go back, but then I thought it might be more polite to ask permission first."

You raise an eyebrow. A seadwealler? Asking for permission to take a picture? Wow, there's certainly something new to see every night. 

"Then why didn't you just ask? Instead of starin9 at my hive like an idiot for an entire week."

He starts stuttering gibberish again while his face continues to go violet, and you make a mental note to introduce him to Vireah someday. To two of them would either get along well or just have the awkwardest conversation known to trollkind. You manage to pick out some words from his jibber jabber, _"didn't think..",_ _"scared….",_ _"thought you'd...",_ and _"no courage..."_.

"Hey hey hey, it's fine," you gesture your hands awkwardly, and he stops stuttering. 

"So… can… can I take some pictures of your hive?" He squeaks.

"Sure," you shrug, and he looks notably a lot more relaxed. "But I have a favour," You add, and then he stiffens up again.

You don't wait for him to stutter out a rejection. "Are there any Pretty-lookin9 corals or sea creatures down there?" You ask, pointing at the far horizon of the ocean.

"+Well, um, yeah, I take a lot of pictures of them, but-"

"Nice! Can you helP me take some nice reference Photos of them and brin9 them to me? Any few creatures will do,"

His eyes dart from left to right for a short moment, like he was thinking of an escape route while weighing his options. "Uh, sure, I guess, maybe tomorro+W?"

You grin. "Tomorrow at this time then, maybe you can droP by my hive. I can 9ive you a tour."

He stutters a bit more, looking around nervously. "O-, okay then. See you tomorrow." He says before plunging back into the ocean.

He doesn't come back up again.

You grin, satisfied, you get up and get back to your hive, better get some snacks out before Vireah comes over. 

Your name is ARTEMA CAIPRA, and looks like you'll be painting some pretty little fishes after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Some info about the trolls in this chapter if you're interested!  
> Artema Caipra:  
> • painting enthusiast  
> • a purpleblood  
> • typing quirk is replacing G with 9 and capitalising P
> 
> Falain Pistri:  
> • violetblood  
> • loves photography  
> • quirk is capitalising W and placing + in front of it
> 
> Vireah Actias:  
> • Artema's moirail  
> • bronzeblood  
> • stargazing love <3  
> • quirk not determined yet


End file.
